Sweet potatoes get a spicy makeover when they’re tossed with a mix of turmeric, garam masala, and red pepper flakes in this recipe for North Indian-spiced roasted sweet potatoes.
north indian-spiced roasted sweet potatoes

Step away from the marshmallows.

Put down the brown sugar.

Hand over the flask of maple syrup.*

Things are about to get spicy.

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To be honest, I didn’t think these were too spicy, but the.boy gave me death glares all night in-between gulps of water. So, you know. Spice with caution. Especially if feeding these to small children.

Or grown men with the taste buds of small children. Ahem.

You do you.

Regardless, they definitely have a kick, which is a nice change-up from the usual cinnamon spice and everything nice routine. We ate them as a simple side dish to an easy scrambled egg dinner, but you can pair them with just about anything. And if you want to eat the whole pan as a meal, I won’t judge you.

Just invite me over next time, mmkay?

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To throw these together, all you have to do is chop, spice, and go. Then let them roast away while you get the rest of your life in order.

*Yes, I said flask. We all have our vices. Is whiskey really so much better than an occasional nip of the maple-y good stuff? I think not.

**Don’t judge.

North Indian-Spiced Roasted Sweet Potatoes
 
Sweet potatoes get a spicy makeover when they're tossed with a mix of turmeric, garam masala, and red pepper flakes in this recipe for North Indian spice-roasted sweet potatoes.
Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1¾ tsp black mustard seeds
  • ½ tsp red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ jalapeno, seeded and minced
  • 1½ tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp garam masala
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 400F.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add in the mustard seeds and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently, until the mustard seeds start to pop, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat to medium-low. Stir in the ginger, garlic, and jalapeno and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute. Add the salt, turmeric, and garam masala. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
  3. Toss the potatoes with the spice mixture. Arrange in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until tender, stirring every 10 minutes.
Notes
Adapted slightly from Cooking Light
Nutrition Information
Serving size: ⅙ of recipe

For more sweet potato love, check out these:

samosa-stuffed sweet potatoes

Samosa-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

homemade ginger pasta with sweet potato wasabi sauce

Pasta with Sweet Potato-Wasabi Sauce

roasted sweet potato salad with cranberry-chipotle dressing from Eats Well With Others, gluten-free, vegan

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Cranberry-Chipotle Dressing

From Around the Web:

Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus from The Novice Chef Blog

Thai Sweet Potato Nachos from Oh My Veggies

Sweet Potato Rosemary Biscuits from Spoon Fork Bacon

Sweet Potato, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup from Greek Kitchen Stories

Maple and Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries from Lauren Kelly Nutrition

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53 Responses to North Indian-Spiced Roasted Sweet Potatoes

  1. Beth says:

    I’m not judging!
    I’d probably dial the heat down a bit for my family, but otherwise these not-so-sweet potatoes look amazing.

  2. Sune Moolman says:

    Spiced sweet potato – YUM!
    I need this on a pizza with lots of cheese and arugula.

  3. These are a nice change-up from the typical cinnamon sweet potato pairing! And I LOVE that you ate these with eggs for dinner. Eggs for dinner ends up being our go-to about once every week or two. We should make these to go with them next time 🙂

  4. These sweet potatoes look delicious! Love the flavors! And thank you for sharing my sweet potato fries 🙂

  5. Kathryn says:

    I love Indian flavours so these sound right up my street!

  6. Tina says:

    I wouldn’t give you death stares but yeah, if it’s too spicy then I am in for heart ache, or I should say heartburn! But I could limit the amount of spice and be cool with this dish. It does look to yummy not to try. A nice change, as you mentioned, from marshmallows and syrup.

    • Uma says:

      I agree..I’m an Indian and familiar with the spices/ the masala.Not all cant tolerate v spicy food although its tasty. Good idea would be to use less chilli powder n use black pepper powder instead. Also keep a cup of yogurt on the side ready.It will taste yummy n help u beat the acidity attack.

  7. Mmm mmm so many yummy spices on here. These look great!

  8. This is so fabulously earthy and with the sweet potato? Magnifique!

  9. Pam says:

    I’ll take The.Boy’s portion next time. I think it looks and sounds fantastic!

  10. Rachel says:

    sweet potatoes are just one of those foods that i could happily eat all the time! i usually like them sweet, but i would definitely give this spicy version a try 😉

  11. These look awesome! I too have a boy with a low spice tolerance – he always thinks I’m mad when I serve spicy things. 😉 I want to try these with an egg on top for breakfast…yummy!

  12. Mira says:

    You’ve got some great flavors going on in this dish Joanne! I’ve never tried something like this, but looks delicious! I’m happy to see such a creative sweet potato recipe, as I open wonder what to do with them!

  13. I love Indian food. LOVE it. I don’t eat a lot of sweet potatoes though. I think it’s because they don’t grow well here, so I don’t get them at the CSA. I’d say about 70% of our veggies come from the CSA, so I never think to buy them otherwise.

  14. I love Indian inspired dishes. These look great!!!

  15. “Or grown men with the taste buds of small children. Ahem.” BWAH! I love this. Not too spicy for me!

  16. I will gobble up the whole plate! Love that dressing!

  17. This sounds like such a delicious way to liven up sweet potatoes. I am so on board with this recipe. Yum!

  18. Sippitysup says:

    Sorry, I’m keeping the flask of maple syrup, you can’t expect me to go cold “turkey” this holiday season. GREG PS And yes, I agree. Flask is the proper term.

  19. This looks awesome! Love your photography and cannot wait to go check out your sweet potato/wasabi pasta!

  20. This looks like a perfect blend of flavours!

  21. Joyti says:

    Well, if I made these and you were wiling to come out to SF, I’d be overjoyed (you did say “Just invite me over next time, mmkay?”).

    They sound really really delicious! And waaay better than the marshmallow version.

  22. Alissa says:

    Haha! I have the same problem with my boyfriend! I have to try these though…they look amazing. I’ll probably get a few death glares, but I think it’ll be worth it. 🙂

  23. Heather says:

    Sounds like the perfect amount of heat for me, but I have little ones and a husband who can’t take the heat, so I’ll probably dial it back a tad as well.

  24. Monica says:

    Spicy sweet potatoes! I would like the whole pan to myself, please! I love all your sweet potato recipes. They’re so delicious and filling and now that I really love lots of heat and spice in my food, I’d load it up.

  25. Kate says:

    For some reason, spicy sweet potatoes sound really good right about now!

  26. Caroline says:

    Oh yeah! I love those flavors…and I will take this as spicy as I can get it! Not judging either…cause I’ve been known break out the bottle of maple in times of distress.

  27. cheri says:

    Yes, love that combination of flavors! looks amazing!

  28. Kelly says:

    Love this dish! I am totally on board when sweet potatoes are involved especially when they look this amazing! No need to tone down the spices here, I love all the heat!

  29. Kathy says:

    Sweet potatoes are the best! I would need to tone down the spices just a tad…but they look amazing, and sound even better!

  30. June says:

    Or Irish taste buds as my “boy” maintains. Guess I’ll have to eat this all by myself. Oh what a trial. Thanks so much for a savory sweet potato recipe. I’ll break out the maple syrup the next time I make pumpkin pie.

  31. Susan says:

    I just made roasted butternut squash with cumin and cayenne this past week and it was delicious. This recipe goes a notch above!

  32. Emma says:

    Oh maaaaaan. Amazing.

  33. I adore sweet potatoes but I would never be able to stomach them given the marshmallow & brown sugar treatment. This on the other hand is right up my alley. I would very happily make a whole meal of this – maybe just a little serve of spinach on the side just for good measure.

  34. Hotly Spiced says:

    I don’t mind spicy and I would say I have adult taste buds. I also prefer my sweet potatoes made with spices rather than with sweet things like maple syrup and marshmallows. This looks like a great side dish xx

  35. Liz says:

    I have to spice with caution when if comes to my hubby (a big kid at times!!!). I would be happy not to share these glorious sweet potatoes…they look terrific!

  36. Eileen says:

    Yay! I completely love sweet potatoes made with none of the typical sugar or molasses or maple syrup or marshmallow nonsense, so you know I am all over these. So good!

  37. alyssa says:

    I love these flavors, especially with potatoes!

  38. I love the spices that you have in this recipe. Your sweet potatoes sound delicious.

  39. Monet says:

    I prefer my sweet potatoes on the savory side. These look spicy and delicious!

  40. Ooh, I can just imagine having a nice plateful of these with some scrambled eggs … what a great combo for an easy dinner. I sometimes lack inspiration for easy tasty dinners, so this one might just be added to the repetoire!

  41. Krista says:

    These look amazing, Joanne!!! I’d happily nosh on them, spicy or not. 🙂

  42. Johanna GGG says:

    sounds great – I love anything with lots of mustard seeds but try feeding these to my 5 year old and there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth and probably accusations of being a bad mother

  43. Christina says:

    I could eat the entire pan of these… and I just might over the weekend. Bring on the spice!

  44. YUM Joanne! We love sweet potatoes and spicy, wow this sounds so interesting. We will definitely try this recipe this weekend. Thanks for sharing!

  45. Just like my mum makes them, what delicious potatoes 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  46. tigerfish says:

    I can never resist such Indian spiced roasted stuff!

  47. What a delicious way to cook sweet potatoes! Definitely need to try this recipe out – I’m always looking for new and tasty ways to kick up the flavour of standard veggies!

  48. Molly says:

    Love this sweet potato recipe. I cut the cubes rather small and they were perfect to add to a green salad as croutons. Thanks for sharing.

  49. Alex O says:

    I feel like there’s some promise in this recipe but as it was written I found it to just be a bit “meh.” The biggest issue is that the potatoes come out mushy and are surprisingly devoid of the flavors one would expect from the spices. I suspect the culprit is the parchment paper. If you have a decent sheet pan then there is really no reason to use the parchment paper. If I’m not mistaken, this recipe first appeared in Cooking Light, which may explain the inclusion of the parchment paper. After blooming the spices and sauteeing the aromatics, and infusing the oil with their flavors, and then coating the potatoes in it, the whole mess gets tossed on a parchment lined pan, at which point the paper starts to soak up all that wonderfully flavorful oil. Getting rid of the oil seems a quitessentially Cooking Light move, even though there’s really not enough of it in this dish to make the recipe that unhealthy. I may try this again with the parchment paper to try and get a bit more flavor into this dish and hopefully crisp the potatoes up a bit. As it stands however, this recipe really didn’t impress me all that much.

    • joanne says:

      Thanks for your feedback! Everyone is going to have some personal preference with regards to spice level. Let me know if you try it with baking roasting the potatoes on the bare baking pan.

  50. Dixie says:

    I came across this recipe today and made it, just as the recipe is. It is absolutely delicious. Earthy warmth, brightness from the ginger, sweetness from the garam masala. I texted my husband and told him that it is a good thing that I like him, or it would be gone before he gets home from work. Thanks for this one! I have already texted it to my daughter and a friend, and it will be one that exists along with those that are kept forever. 🙂

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